The latest in a series of Grand Challenges lectures from the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Abstract

Understanding, managing and recalibrating human-environment relationships is amongst the most pressing challenges of our time. In this talk I point to the value of transdisciplinary soundscape research for approaching ecological, epistemological and existential dimensions of this wicked problem. Introducing the emerging scientific discipline of ecoacoustics, I will  share scientific results which point to the possibility that we can better protect our waning biodiversity by listening to  ecosystems.  Sharing work in community-led conservation projects in south-east Asia and the Ecuadorian Amazon, I reflect on the value of participatory soundscape methods to interface between western and indigenous epistemologies. Finally, turning inward to our own subjective experiences of listening, we will consider what microphenomenology of listening can reveal about our qualities of our basic lived experience. In doing so I aim to illustrate the value of integrating different forms of knowledge across disciplines, everyday and indigenous practices and speculate that triangulating ecological theory and computational methods with human experience might point to valuable new approaches to ecoaoustic analysis and even inspire fresh consideration of core conservation imperatives in order to reintegrate the anthroposphere and biosphere for the benefit of people and planet.

Twitter: @alicealicealice

Website: www.ecolistening.org

Biography

Dr. Alice Eldridge is an interdisciplinarian with an interest in how sound organises systems. Her research integrates ideas and methods from music, computer science, ecology and anthropology to advance theory and methods in the emerging discipline of ecoacoustics, as well as to create ecosystemic music and experiential soundscapes.  Alice holds a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems, and a PhD in Computer Science and AI. She is currently a Reader in Sonic Systems at the University of Sussex where she is co-director of the Sussex Humanities Lab, co-director of the Experimental Music Technology Lab and a fellow of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme.

This lecture will be available in person as well as online via Microsoft Teams.  For those attending in person, refreshments will be available from 5.30pm onwards.  For those attending online, please register (by no later than 4.00pm on the day of the lecture) and joining instructions with further information will follow ahead of the lecture. 

This lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.

---